All Stars Burn Out
by don'twannabetorn9
Summary: Astrid's life isn't perfect; but stars may finally be falling into place as she hopes to fulfill her dreams of becoming an actress; until an alien boy and his sister literally crash land into her life. But she's not about to let a boy who claims they're soulmates ruin her dreams of Hollywood...or is she? SethxOC
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Race to Witch Mountain. This is a story I have been inspired to write; I've seen a few stories on here use the idea of Seth meeting his Soulmate while on this adventure and It kind of got me thinking of this story….Hope you enjoy.**

I sighed, stepping out of the casino/hotel that was currently being used for the upcoming scoff convention of the year. I was still in my cadet costume. I was drenched in sweat from all twelve hours of non-stop movement underneath harsh stage lights. My backpack was lying on the floor beside a closed up booth for a popular science comic book. Several people dressed from Starwars characters to Star Trek Characters were running around. A couple kids, one dressed as Boba Fett, and the other dressed as Captain Kirk, were caught in a heated argument.

Nevada was so close to California, yet so far away. I grabbed my backpack and headed off to the restrooms to change. I stared at my reflection in the mirror, noticing where my stage makeup was caky and running. I never thought I'd be eighteen years and running around Las Vegas of all places, playing Cadet #4 in a stupid little show at a convention center. I took off the cadet outfit and stuffed it into the backpack not caring what happened to it. I wore my comfy leggings and an oversized red hoodie. Far cry from where I was last year at this time. I was at orientation for a top notch university to study medicine, go to pharmacy school; My parents had seen to that. Both of them were doctors, medically my mother and academically my father. My older sister, Kirsten, was now studying to be a doctor. Two weeks after dropping me off campus, I left my pretty east coast life for one thing, Hollywood. I dreamt of being an actress; my parents dreamt of successful medical daughters.

I received phone call after text after email with "You're ruining your life! There's a billion to one change you'll make it! You're better off heading back home and getting a practical degree." I didn't care as I made it Vegas and got cast as an ensemble member in a small murder mystery theatre diner. I roomed with my best friend, Bailey, who had followed me out to the California. Trying to explain to your parents that you didn't want their dream was heart wrenching, especially after they listed the numerous sacrifices they made for me over the years. How was I supposed to convince them that the medical field just wasn't for me? I feinted at the sight of blood. I barely passed chemistry and biology when I was in high school. There was almost literally no way I was ever going to be accepted into a med program anyway! If I hadn't gotten the little opportunity to move out west, I probably would've switched my major over to theatre ( which my parents had forbidden).

My love for acting began back in elementary school when I played one of the background orphans in Annie. By the time I was in high school, I was part of the drama club and starred in several of the school productions. My roles included: Cheerleader 2 in High School Musical, Jack's Mother in our pg version of Into the Woods, Glinda in the Wizard of Oz and finishing my senior year strong by being cast in the lead role of Mary Poppins. I thought my acting career would take off moving out west.

I attended several acting camps and classes. There were auditions after auditions. Eventually I left the Mystery diner to another dinner theater show, being cast in a more prominent role on the stage. I left the dinner show after auditioning for a couple local commercials and worked as a waitress for a small pizza place. I was recently fired; not because I was bad at my job or anything but because my manager's girlfriend was jealous and paranoid about any girl that was within a ten feet radius of her boyfriend. While my manager and I never did or said anything that wasn't work related, She had gotten it into her head that I was going to steal her man away from her and convinced him to fire me to keep their relationship in tact.

After several failed auditions, I was finally picked up for a stage show at a scifi convention. The script was bad and even though the ten of us who were in the play were all decent actors, we couldn't do anything that was outside our director's vision. And the vision of his script was dreadful.

If luck decided to be kind to me, then I would succeed in my latest audition for an upcoming science fiction television series for Freeform and be able to quit this ridiculous thing. I kept glancing at my phone, hoping to receive the call that I was being considered for the part.

Stepping out into the cool night air, I hailed a taxi. The driver did not look happy, probably because he had been driving alien fanatics throughout the night. His license read Jack Bruno. Other than telling him to drop me off at my apartment building, we didn't exactly speak to one another until it was time for me to pay.

I scrambled out of the taxi cab and headed into the run down building. I waved at the night manager and hurried up to my room on the third floor. Before putting my key into the lock I noticed a small sticky note on the door that was barely hanging on.

 _Astrid,_

 _Spending the night at Cameron's_

 _-Bailey_

I sighed because this meant my love struck roommate would be gone for the next three days. Bailey and I had a pact not to bring any dates home, so she usually spent the night at their place, since she and Cameron started dating, she might as well have moved out entirely if it wasn't for all her dirty clothes that were scattered across our living room.

I cleaned up what little I could before heading off to my small bedroom. I laid down, praying that something would happen to change the direction of my life. Maybe I would land the part, or maybe get discovered my a great Hollywood agent. Maybe something greater? I could only hope.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Race to Witch Mountain**

 _ **If you are reading this, thank you. All reads are truly appreciated! I hope you enjoy this chapter.**_

I checked my email one more time to make sure that I had read it correctly. I, Astrid Beatrice Finch was one of the finalists for the role of Nova ( a side character that wasn't really important but like, it was still a role!). I would've screamed if it wasn't six thirty in the morning and my neighbors would call a noise complaint on me….again. For some reason, I was more than excited to go straight to the hotel, if only to turn back in that stupid cadet uniform. It was still in my backpack that was shoved up against the couch. I grabbed my phone to call Bailey immediately.

"Ghat?" I heard her mumble after the phone rang three times. She sounded half asleep. "Dis, better be good, Astrid, I haven't been able to sleep all night because of Cameron's stupid friends…"

"Who all is over there?" I asked. I already knew the answer but prayed silently that I was wrong.

"Oh, shoot, I forgot to tell Cameron that you don't want to hang around Trainor" Bailey whispered.

"It's ok, I can't exactly tell your boyfriend who he's not allowed to hang out with" I mumbled.

"I feel so dumb!" Bailey whispered "If it makes you feel better anymore though, Trainor, got dumped by that girl, Jess."

"It makes me feel a little better" I said, trying to get the image of my ex and the girl he dumped me for out of my mind.

I could hear Cameron call for Bailey in the background.

.

"What makes me feel even better is that I got the email for the callback for that audition" I told Bailey. She yawned.

"I'm excited for you" She whispered "But seriously, tired, can I be happy for you when's the sun is up?"

"Sure" I said before ending the call.

I dialed my director, Ian, to let him know that I would no longer be doing his stupid science fiction play. He said that it was great I was leaving as I wasn't living up to his vision of the cadet squad. He had gotten his brother to play the part of Cadet 4 but I had to hurry over and drop off the costume so that they could do the play. I groaned, knowing I'd have to trek outside while it was still technically dark.

I got dressed quickly, simply putting on jeans, a light pink/brown shirt and brushing my hair in two strokes. I was a total mess but it was just Ian and a bunch of alien, science loving nerds, I didn't exactly care if they saw me looking like troll-woman. No taxi cabs were running early, so I hopped the bus and headed to the hotel to drop off the costume to Ian. He wasn't too pleased as I dumped it out of my backpack in front of him, showing off how messy and wrinkly I let the outfit get.

"The dry cleaning is coming out of your final paycheck" He griped as I shrugged my shoulders. I took my backpack and headed away from Ian and away from the stupid secondary acting jobs. I was on my way to stardom. I had two weeks to get to Hollywood for my final audition in front of the rest of the finalists and the casting crew. I planned on spending the rest of my valuable time in Vegas, preparing for it.

I took the elevator to the ground floor and darted away as many people were coming into the hotel to set up for the convention. I sighed, walking down the sidewalk as I passed by several bus stops, banks, shops. Not paying attention to where I was going, I accidentally walked right between two blonde teenagers.

"Sorry" I said turning to them. "I wasn't watching where I was going." I placed by hands into my the pocket of my jeans.

"Your apology is accepted" The blonde girl said. "We apologize as well. I am Sara and this is my brother, Seth."

"Astrid" I said. I nodded my head towards them. I continued down the sidewalk when suddenly my backpack sort felt pulled off my shoulders and flew backwards towards the ground behind me.

I spun to see the remaining contents spilled out on the concrete. The brother and sister rushed over to help me pick up my items and stuff them into my backpack.

"Carrying this many items is not practical" The boy told me "but perhaps you like to be prepared for any sort of situation or emergency." I raised an eyebrow wandering what the heck he was talking about or why he sound so proper. It could be several reasons such as he hasn't had his morning coffee, the sun wasn't fully up yet, he's attended finishing school or maybe that's just how he preferred to mess with people.

I zipped my backpack up and desperately wanted to run as far as I can.

"If you wouldn't mind reconsidering your plan of action and instead perhaps consider the idea of helping my brother and I" Sara said. She shared a look with her brother "Obtain transportation,:

Now I was truly thinking of sprinting as fast as I could in the opposite direction of the blonde brother and sister.

"There's a taxi lot not too far from here" I said. "It's down three blocks" I said pointing in the direction of the taxi lot. "then a right, and one more block. You can't miss it, huge lot, tons of yellow taxi cabs."

"And this Taxi will take us to our desired destination?" Seth asked.

"Yeah" I said. Both of the siblings were gorgeous in their own way. Thinking to myself that they clearly won sometime of genetic lottery. The girl was small, petite with platinum hair. Her face was round and her eyes were like doe eyes that helped define her as beauty. The boy was hot like sometimes of warrior/model that I only saw in magazines and on trashy romance covers.

If I stayed there any longer I would turn into a teenage version of Blanche Devereux from the _Golden Girls_. I snuck one more glance at him thinking that if in some other reality that forced children from twelve districts to fight to death I would be betting all my money on him and his muscles.

Sara let out a laugh after the moment of silence. Not an awkward laugh to clear the silence but more of a she genuinely heard something funny. I shrugged my shoulders and was apt to go on about my way when Seth grabbed me by the arm.

"My brother thinks it would be best for you to come with us" Sara said.

"Why?" I asked, trying to pry my arm away from her brother. I wasn't minding the hot guy touching me, I was however minding the fact that they clearly weren't going to just leave me about my business for the day.

"Because of the necessary urgency of our time, there is a good chance that I might not be able to relocate you at a later time" Seth stated.

"What?" I asked. Clearly without my morning coffee the world wasn't functioning properly. O maybe this was the universe's messed up way of telling that "Hey, I'll never let you win!".

These two were so cryptic with their communication.

"I'll show you to the taxi lot, if that's alright?" I asked. That seemed to please them. Frankly, I feel sorry for whatever poor soul ends up shuttling them around later today. Whoever that person is they are in for it.

"oh, and could you please let go of my arm?" I asked Seth, who looked me straight in the eye before dropping it. If I wasn't so tired and it was so early, maybe my mind would've picked up on the red flags waving around in front of my eyes. But these two looked my age and harmless.

I tried to be a good person most of the time. What harm could showing two people to a taxi lot really do to me? I wish I knew. I really wish I knew.

The taxi lot wasn't exactly empty as we arrived with the sun starting to rise. The driver from the night before was out in the lot, talking to a few guys. They seemed to know each other and were in a heated conversation.

"That guy drives that cab" I said pointing to the taxi cab he had driven in me the other night. "Just get inside when he lets you, and I hope I have been helpful."

"You have been helpful" Sara said as Seth grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me towards the cab.

"Guys, I'm not going on this ride" I tried to say but I was already shoved into the backseat by Seth and Sara. I tried to unlock my door. It was one of those where you had to pull the little plastic piece up before you could open the door. Each time I managed to pull it up it magically fell down into the hole, locking me inside.

"I really need to be somewhere" I told them, with a bit of desperation in my voice. I really needed to be anywhere but here.

"You don't need to be anywhere" Sara informed you "urgently other than the place that you are in now."

"I need to leave" I started to get up but the taxi cab started taking off. The driver, Jack Bruno, was now behind the wheel. I fell forward down into the floor as soon as I tried to stand up Jack slammed on the car's breaks, causing to fall forward again.

"Where did you come from?" Jack asked.

"Outside" I heard Seth say. I stood up and fell back down into the seat. I sighed, leaning my head against the seat. This was going to be a _long_ day. I eyed Jack from where I was laying and we shared the same look of disbelief.

"Yeah, I figured that out on my own" Jack mumbled. I could tell I was going to like this guy. "How did you get in the car."

"Honestly, I have no idea" I muttered low enough that it was outdone by Sara's answer of her and Seth pointing to the door.

"Through that portal" Sara explained. Jack's eyes widened probably as he realized he was too old now to get the hip young teen language.

Seth spoke next. "I am Seth and this is my sister, Sara, and my bound, Astrid. We require your transportation services immediately?"

Bound? I tried prying the door open again. Maybe I can hurl myself into the oncoming traffic and get away from these crazies. I would feel bad for leaving Jack with them but his sacrifice will not be in vain.

Jack stuttered at Seth's response. "Well, I require…"

I continued fighting with the "portal".

"A currency transaction…" Sara finished.

Seth reached into his pocket and pulled out the largest wad of money I had ever seen in my entire life. My mouth hung open, like were they some type of rich elite private school kid runaways?

"What did you two rob a bank?" Jack asked.

"You know these two have already committed the act of abducting someone" I said putting emphasis on my last words " So at this point I wouldn't be surprised"

"They abducted you?" Jack asked, still trying to get over the amount of money that they were offering.

"Is this acceptable, Jack Bruno?" Sara asked. The surprise of hearing his full name come out of the girl's mouth put him in a small state of shock. There were cars honking all around us to get a move on.

"How did you know my name?" Jack asked. I feel the guy, too many questions, so few vague and strange answers. Sara pointed the license that was near the front of the car dashboard.

"If we have a deal for your services then we must move forward rapidly" Seth said "It is urgent that we get to our destination without delay." I watched Jack closely as he seemed to argue with himself on what to do.

I wasn't having this. This is technically kidnapping and I wanted out of here. They were strangers! I pulled my phone out of my bag to see that it had cracked severely when my backpack hit the concrete earlier. Too top it all off, my battery was dead. Here I was trapped in a car with a phone that would literally cause me to bleed with a swipe of my finger and no charger to call for help.

"What about you?" Jack asked me directly. "You said these two abducted you?"

"I just would appreciate it if you could just drop me off at the bust station down the road" I said.

"Astrid, please reconsider" Sara said "Despite forcing you into this taxi cab, we do not mean to cause you harm in anyway."

Seth nodded his head. "I admit it was a mistake on our part, but it would be disastrous for Sara and I, if you were to leave us now."

There was a soft look in his eye as he spoke. There was a piece of my brain saying that it would be wise to tell Jack to let me out down the road, head back to my apartment and begin working on my upcoming audition. And also look into fixing my phone. Then there was a part of me that existed much lower, that seemed to say "Look how adorable Seth is; what's the harm in spending a few more minutes with them. Isn't he cute?"

Plus Jack Bruno seemed to be an ok guy. He would probably help if something were to go wrong and I needed to escape these two.

"Why exactly do you need me?" I asked. I could give five reasons why I needed him and all of them included some really bad things. Sara caught my eye and seemed to be suffering from carsickness.

"That explanation is would be rather long but I promise if you continue on this journey with us that I will explain everything in due time" He stated. Whatever idiotic part of me (hormones, baby, hormones) decided to mouth the words "sure" as I nodded my head must be punished severely.

"I'll stay" I decided, buckling in my seat belt because safety first as you ride in a taxi cab with a bunch of strangers!

Jack began to pull out onto the road. "Where to?" I looked to my left to see Seth had pulled out some weird device. Gee, rich kids sure get all the advancements in iPhones.

"I need an address" Jack said.

"We must travel in that direction" Sara said, pointing aimlessly at a random spot. Well, my day is over. Jack groaned from the driver's seat. Seth was busy tapping away on his device which had like mini holograms and everything.

"I'm going to need something a bit more specific than just 'that direction" Jack complained.

Seth didn't hesitate to start rattling off coordinates. We must locate latitude 40.54 cross-intersecting longitude…"

Jack held up his hand to get the boy to stop. "We're just going to stick with that direction."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own this**

 ** _I'd like to thank all the readers who have decided to read this story! All reads are greatly appreciated. So this chapter is more in Astrid's mind, and it does get a little crazy with her thoughts because, let's face it, she's bored on a long road trip..._**

 ** _Enjoy!_**

I dozed off. I leaned my head against the window and thought of sleep, pure, wonderful sleep. My mind drifted off into dream world. The motion of the taxi cab as it drove down the long highway soothed me as fell asleep.

There were birds cawing out to me. Seagulls as my dream self moved about a large beach area. It was a perfect scene as the crystal blue water moved in front of me. I took a step into the sand, discovering I was barefoot as the grains of sand tickled my feet and found their way between my toes. There were blurs of light and color, calling out to me. I couldn't see them, just the sillouhette's of people I believed I knew. One looked like Bailey, another like my cousin from back home, others my friends from high school. Several were new people I've never met in life but knew in this dream world.

They wanted me to join them in the water. I laughed, starting to run towards them. I ran, but the distance between where I was and the ocean only grew larger. I could never quite reach the ocean. The waves crashed against the wind, splattering me with salt water, or so I thought. I blinked my eyes open to find that water from a small sprinkle of rain had gotten through the window and was splashing my face.

I woke up to find myself trapped in a heated, overcrowd taxi. Not my glorious beach. The clouds moved away quickly and what little rain there had been in this desert was now over. I glanced at the clock to see that I had been asleep for a couple hours. A couple hours of just trying to get the beach? That dream felt like five whole minutes!

This was getting boring. I am an actress and a first class Drama Queen. I loathe boredom. Yet this brother and sister beside me were an enigma all on their own. Alone with a wad a cash heading who knows where in this isolated terrain. I wish I had a large wad of cash to fling at random people to do my bidding. I could picture it now, I strut into KFC with a wad of cash and order the largest bucket on the menu. Oh, what I miss about home. I hadn't eaten at KFC in over eight months. There was something about being out west that just exhumed my need to eat anything deep fried.

If I was back home, it would be chicken this and gravy that; Food I ate but never truly enjoyed as I did more exotic and healthier tastes. I was a strange one in my family, the only one to ever try squid.

"Are your parents going to be ok with you spending all this money?" Jack asked.

Seth was the one to answer. "We had previously agreed upon our financial deal. If your concern is…"

Jack cut him off. "My concern is that I got a bunch of kids in the back of my cab with a big wad of cash and a drop off location that's pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Now…In my book, that's a little thing called _running away_ " Jack's radio began to make noise and soon another voice, presumably his boss, spoke to him from the other end.

It was a good theory. They stole the money from whoever they were leaving and needed to get ASAP. I wanted to say before Jack started messing with the other guy on the radio that I wasn't running away. I had no reason to run away from my life here in Vegas. My life was about start getting good, why would I run from it?

And if we're technically speaking, I sort of already ran away. Though it doesn't count because I'm pretty sure us kids, count as young adults, still an adult. I tend not to see it as running away more like pursuing my acting career.

I turned around in my seat to look around at the scenery. We were the only vehicle on the road, well, minus a couple vans that popped up behind us. They were going kind of fast; the driver and passengers looked as if they were running late for a Men in Black convention. I've seen plenty of weird stuff in vegas that this actually makes sense. A couple days ago a group of young men dressed as dinosaurs with realistic looking costumes and frightened half of the crowd at Planet Hollywood so they could get Youtube views.

Sara had turned around to look as well. She didn't see the humor like I did.

"Jack Bruno, the vehicles behind us are indicating a pattern of pursuit."

"A who is doing what now?" I asked.

I could see in the rear view mirror, Jack rolling his eyes. "There's no vehicles following us." He stared at the rearview mirror and soon he saw the vans pop up as well.

Seth spoke next, in an urgent tone he said "At your current rate of speed versus theirs, they will over take our vehicle in…"

I stopped listening because it started to sound too much like a math problem. Like rate equals distance over time? Was this kid like a math genius or something because I can't figure out these problems without some clue like we're going 55 mph and they're going 57 mph and if the sun is equal to 1.4 x 10^45 kgs how many grams of salt are in this random glass of H2O. Then for some reason the answer always involves train A leaving Station B. but Train B arrives at station A….Somehow I get the answer wrong when having to give the name for H3Cl2O.

And my parents wanted me to be a doctor.

Jack did slow our speed down for the vehicle to pass us. One of the vans did. Then, they stopped.

"Jack Bruno!" Sara shouted as suddenly Jack slammed on the breaks to avoid hitting the vehicle that was blocking to entire highway. Luckily I was wearing a seatbelt this time, so I didn't go flying. Then, a couple other vans came up beside us, one on either side. Is this what it's like to be in a film directed by Michael Bay? Jack was doing his best imitation of characters from the Fast and the Furious as he tried to swerve around the other vehicles.

"I said I was out" Jack yelled between breathes "and I meant it."

I could feel my heart beating against my chest. Well, this was certainly a day I was going to remember…if I survived. "Who is Mr. Wolfe, Jack Bruno" Sara asked. I had no idea who the guy was either to be honest. I never heard the name before.

One of the vehicles slammed right into us. It felt an earthquake was happening inside such a tiny cab. Jack was screaming for all of us to get down. I ducked down beside the siblings. I wrapped my arms around my knees. I was breathing fast. It was impact upon impact. This really wouldn't have happened to me If I just went on to college and became a doctor. Nope, I'd be in a dorm room, probably studying for some type of science or math test. I'd be safe and sound. Not potentially gaining some type of head injury. I was smacked against the car door and felt something scrape against my arm.

It stung. A cold hand rested on my kneecap. I jolted, turning to see Seth looking at me for a moment. I assumed this was his strange way of comforting me. It was sort of comforting. He mouthed something to me, but I was too dizzy to understand. My head was spinning. I looked over at my arm to see that a huge gush had been caused by something sharp. There was red pouring down my arm. Red, icky, blood…and it was oozing. I needed a bandaid. I needed a cold glass of water. I needed the car to stop to stop…please…to stop spinning. I needed Seth and his identical twin brother and Sara with her three heads to stop spinning as well. I needed to breathe. I don't think I was breathing. I felt myself breathe in and out but I could swear I wasn't breathing. I was spinning, maybe, possibly. Then the world dark.


	4. Chapter 4

I had a massive headache when I came to. I didn't both asking what happened while I was out of it because frankly I did not want to know. Everyone was starring at me when I opened my eyes. It's a wonder I didn't punch anyone in the face.

"Ah" I said, getting up in my seat.

"Her system is…" Sara began to say. I held up my hand.

"I'm fine. Whatever my system is, it's fine" I wasn't fine. I just wanted to head back to the apartment and restart the day. Maybe, If I closed my eyes and wished really hard.

Sara was laughing. I rolled my eyes. I had no idea what her problem was. Her brother looked just as confused as I was. Jack continued driving for what felt like hours.

We eventually reached a desolate cabin in the middle of the desert. Sara and Seth shared a smile.

Sara perked up. "We're here, Jack Bruno" It was then I noticed that she never really referred to him as Jack or Mr. Bruno or even Bruno. It was first name last name. All the time.

The place didn't look like a cozy weekend getaway. It looked like the old cabin that friends and I dared each other to go play inside. Old, creepy, and only one brave soul of our eight year old group dared to go in. That brave soul wasn't me, if you're wondering.

Even Jack couldn't quite believe that this was their destination. It made their actions even more suspicious. "Here?"

"Yeah, Here?" I asked as well.

"There's nothing here" Jack said. Though of course, there was a cabin. Maybe Jack missed that. But other than the cabin, he was right. There was nothing for miles.

"Somebody's expecting you two right?" Jack asked concerned.

Sara nodded her head. "Don't worry, Jack Bruno. We'll soon be reunited with relatives" She turned towards me as Jack stopped the car. Oh, crud! She wants me to go with her and her brother.

She and Seth got out of the car as Jack was talking about the amount of money he ordinarily would've racked up for a drive like this. But he was kind enough to knock off twenty-five percent and before he could get another word in edgewise Seth slammed a wad of cash in his hand.

Once he and his sister were outside they were talking for a minute, both of them taking glances at me. I saw Seth mouth the words "Is she coming?" Sara turned towards me. I looked at Jack and then without thinking, again, I unbuckled my seatbelt.

But by the time I got out of the car, the two of them had already disappeared inside of the house.

Jack joined me outside.

"You gonna follow them?" I asked.

He laughed, nervously. "I mean, they overpaid by a lot" The two of us looked at the cabin one more time. I felt like I was eight years old again when Gerald dared me to go inside the old worn down house at the end of my road. Gerald was the first kid to brave the house so he dared me next. I never quite built up the nerve that day.

Today, I was worried for these two siblings. There was a sound of shattered glass coming from inside the building. That should've sent my alarms off as well. Instead it sent off a different kind of alarm. I wanted to run inside the building and make sure Seth and Sara were ok. I darted for the door.

I opened it. Everything was quiet. Jack came up behind me. He found something to use as a weapon and motioned for me to be quiet.

I heard a creeeeeeeek. Jack heard it to. He swung whatever it was in his hands as hard as he could. It went through Seth. Like it didn't hit him. I fell down against the floor, in shock.

"What?" I whispered.

"What just happened?" Jack asked.

As always Sara was the one to speak. "You should not have jeopardized your life by following us" She whispered.

A look of concern showed across Jack's face. "What kind of trouble are the two of you in?"

Seth whipped his head up from his gadget. "I suggest you return to your vehicle. Your services are no longer required."

"Seth, they're just trying to help" Sara said.

Seth shook his head. "We don't need their help. Somebody's already been here looking for it. We can't trust anyone" He looked over at his sister. "just us, Sara"

It was nice to know where I stood with this guy.

Sara looked up at Jack. "We appreciate you efforts to assist us, Jack Bruno, but my brother is right. We can involve you two no further"

"So you want me to leave?" I asked. I was asking more towards Seth but the question was open to either sibling I guess.

"You wanted me to follow you two" I pointed out. Seth was working on some kind of gadget in his hand. It looked like an advanced phone. He looked up for a moment and ours eyes locked. Something waved over me. A heat ran through my skin.

That's when the gadget in his hand went off.

"Got it!" He shouted. He bolted up from the floor and walked briskly down the creepy hallway. Sara followed quickly behind. I looked at Jack, shrugged, and followed them down this rabbit hole.


	5. Chapter 5

Down the dark hallway was a fridge that led down a creepy passage way. I took a breath and followed Seth and Sara, wondering if Jack was following as well. I followed them down the passage way to the basement, through an old shelf case.

It was like a whole other world. Plants were growing everywhere; some plants I've never even seen before, in life or in pictures. Seth was looking at his device, trying to figure out which way to go. He would motion for different directions and his sister would follow.

Finally, he stopped in front of this pink, bluish thing. He waved his gadget device over the oozing thing.

"Sara, it's here" He said.

Sara took off her pendant and placed it on top. Then she stuck her hand inside the ooey gooey disgusting thing. She pulled out yet another gadget. I've heard of geo caching but this was taking things to a whole new level.

"What is that?" Jack stared at the new device.

Sara beamed. "It is what we came for, Jack Bruno"

Jack sighed. "Is anyone else looking for it? Say the person who trashed everything upstairs?" He asked.

Oh, no that did not sound good.

"We think so. It is very valuable. Which is why it was vital that we locate it first."

Ok, need to get out of here now.

"What makes you think that whoever else wanted it, isn't still looking for it?" With that we all had the same thought. We all dropped to the ground. We needed to head back where we came from. I was trapped between Seth and Sara.

I was crawling through the plants as fast as I could towards the way we came in. I wasn't going to let anything get between me and safety. Then Jack began to yell, and everything went into chaos.

I continued crawling, but the siblings got away from me, running of in a different direction.

"Jack Bruno!" I heard from on direction.

"Kids" I heard from another.

I was on my own. Then everything was set fire. Great. You know I should've just stayed in bed this morning. Sometimes, that's the best thing to do.

More screams and more flames. Then I noticed a guy in a silver suit appear between the plants. NOPE. NOPE. NOPE. I continued crawling through the plants. Sara shouted one more time but I couldn't tell if it was on my right or left.

I felt someone grab me by the edge of my sleeve. Seth pulled me up from the ground and pushed me to run towards the exit. I ran as fast as I could, falling behind Sara. Jack appeared quickly too. The door was shut but Seth stayed by the door. What in the world was going on in his head. There was an explosion, knocking him out in the process.

There was no time to stop or anything else. Jack picked him up and the three of left conscious ran to the taxi. Stuff was falling around us everywhere. I opened up the taxi door and jumped inside. Seth was placed in the middle between me and Sara. I wanted out of the cab, away from the cabin, back in my apartment where everything was nice and safe.

Jack hit the gas and drove away. I turned and noticed that Seth was slowly waking up.

"How's your brother doing?" Jack asked.

"His system has the ability to-"

"I will be fine" He said "It is important we gain much distance from this location"

I sighed.

"You're sure, you're fine" I asked.

"You were fine earlier when you fell unconscious" He pointed. Fine, clearly not human guy, fine.

Jack on the other hand wasn't fine.

"I'm happy you're feeling better cause you're gonna need your strength to explain just what happened back there!"

Night had fallen, and we were driving in a mist. Jack drove a bit further before officially parking the taxi. What part of we need to distance from previous location did he not understand.

"Here's the thing the cab doesn't move till your mouths do, so start talking"

I hit my head against the head rest.

"The information you seek is not within your grasp of understanding" Seth said.

I hit my head against the head rest again.

Sara added to it as well. "We are dealing with issues outside of the realm of your world"

I leaned back in my seat. So they probably weren't from this world. Would that make them like aliens? Or something.

"I'm a cab driver ok" Jack began to say "I've plenty of other worldly experiences" He stared at something behind us. We turned around to see what looked like a mini flying saucer coming towards us.

"Sara, we have to go!" Seth shouted. Sara reached out her hand and the cab flew. It flew down the road, off the road. It was worse than an old wooden roller coaster.

"What is it?" Jack asked.

We were being blasted by the flying saucer. We spun around. I hit Seth with my elbow a few times on accident. Jack was quick with the steering wheel, and drove us safely inside a tunnel.


	6. Chapter 6

I let out a breath once we entered inside the tunnel.

"We can't let him destroy it" Seth said to Sara. He was referring to the second device they had came for. Sara nodded her head in response. I was taking in deep breathes and letting them out quickly.

"Who is he?" Jack asked "And this time I need real answers"

"Yeah" I whispered

"It's a siphon" Sara told us.

"A what?"

"He's an assassin" Seth answered "Trained to pursue his target until his mission is completed"

"And his mission is…?"

"Us" Sara whispered but it was something Jack and I both figured out before she answered.

Just then, there was a blue light glowing at the end of the tunnel. The siphon was there. I gripped the arm of person closest to me, which happened to be Seth. I held my breath as the light seemed to glow closer towards the taxi.

Jack had his hands near the key ignition at any moment. Suddenly the light was gone. I breathed a sigh of relief. Surely the siphon had moved on.

Jack cautiously began to drive us out of the tunnel.

I was still holding on to Seth's arm. I immediately let go.

"I'm sorry" I whispered.

"You were fine, Astrid" He responded.

Then we were blasted by the siphon. For one moment the taxi was airborn, whipping us around. WE headed towards a bridge and it was blast after blast after blast. I ducked my head between my arms. Jack drove us through a tunnel again, only this time the siphon followed us. The siphon could hardly fit in the tunnel though. Sparks flew everywhere.

Then there was a train. Jack was driving as fast as he could, but it wasn't good enough.

"Faster!" Seth screamed.

"It won't go any faster!" Jack screamed back.

Sara did what she had done earlier, holding her hand out and pushing upon the gas with I assume just her mind. We were going at speeds they told us never to go back in Driver's Education.

We flew out of the tunnel, barely missing the train.

Once it was all over, I began to cry. Tears were falling down my face as Jack pulled us to the side of the road. He was getting out of the taxi cab to check on the engine.

"Astrid?" Sara began to speak.

"I'm fine" I said. I wrapped my arms around my legs.

"If you were fine" Seth said "You would not have tears falling down your face."

"I just want to go home" I mumbled.

"Home to your apartment with your friend who is never around or home to your parents who you haven't spoken to in months" Sara questioned.

I shifted in my seat. Could she read minds or something? I meant, Home where things were safe.

Sara looked down at her device in her hand again.

"I'm guessing that's where you want to get to now as well?" I asked.

Sara nodded her head.

"But we're going to need your help" She said.

"We are" Seth told me.

"And Jack's" Sara pointed out.

Seth's face fell. "We cannot trust him."

"We can" Sara said. "We must. I can feel it."

It was at that moment Jack got back into the taxi cab, slamming the door. He did not look happy.

"You ok, Astrid?" Jack asked upon getting in the car. "I know today must've been…"

"She's fine" Seth answered.

"I'm fine" I said afterwards, confirming it.

Sara sighed. "We know you are frustrated, Jack Bruno."

Jack held up a hand. "Uh uh, no more 'Jack Bruno this, Jack Bruno that…' I want some real answers."

"You know the answers, Jack Bruno" Sara said. "My brother and I are indeed not from your planet."

"I thought that like fifteen minutes ago" I announced.

Jack began to laugh. "That's it then. So that's it? Mystery solved? You two want me to believe that you're both aliens?"

"It is the truth" Seth said.

"It makes sense" I added "given everything that's happened today"

"Yeah, well, they don't look like aliens" Jack said.

"What does an alien look like, Jack Bruno?" Sara asked.

"You know what aliens look like. Little green people with antennas and laser guns and "take me to your leader earthlings, oooooh" Jack said.

I rolled my eyes. "I've worked at that space convention all week long, and you and I both know that there are different types of alien forms based on people's costumes. For example: Star wars."

"You require some sort of proof" Sara stated. She turned towards her brother "He thinks we're insulting his intelligence"

"yeah, I mean, you don't just drop the whole "we're aliens" bomb on someone like that" Jack said "and expect me to believe…"

Sara held up her hand and little things within the cab began to float. My backpack tried to escape in the air as well. "I have the ability to move objects with my mind."

"That's impossible" Jack said stunned.

Sara shook her head. "It's quite possible on our planet as well as yours. You don't do it because you haven't learned to use your full brain capacity yet."

"No" Jack answered" I don't do it because it's kind of creepy and I would like you to stop now."

Sara did so. All the little cds and coins fell to the ground. We looked up and there was a blue light similar to the siphon's from before. Jack turned the key, but the taxi wouldn't start.

"Come on, Come on."

Luckily, it was just a giant truck passing by and no siphon. The taxi cab was on the road once more. We were safe from trains, trucks and siphons….for now.


	7. Chapter 7

It had been a long day and it was going to be an even longer night. Jack continued driving us into the dark, promising to stop in the first town we came to.

My head was leaning against the window. I probably looked awful. I needed to find a phone and check in with Bailey. Even if my phone was not broken, there probably wasn't even any service around here.

We all sat in silence not speaking to one another. It would probably take all night to get back to Vegas anyway.

We passed a sign welcoming us to the small town of Stoney Creek. Jack drove around, heading for a repair shop. He found one, pulling our beaten taxi inside.

We were at Eddie's repair shop.

We all got out of the vehicle.

"Hello?" Jack called out "Anyone here?"

"Yeah" replied a voice " we're closed!" It was Eddie the owner of the shop. I leaned against the cab. This was going to take awhile. While Jack was trying to negotiate with Eddie, all I could think about was what to do next. I should probably call Bailey but I needed phone. In a town like Stoney Creek surely there was a payphone or something I could use.

"I know" Jack told Eddie "but we've experienced some car trouble."

"Still closed" Eddie said. "Better to experience car trouble when we're open"

I crossed my arms. Ok, maybe Eddie wasn't the only mechanic in town. There had to be someone else who could fix our cab at night.

"I'll plan better next time" Jack replied.

Eddie shrugged.

"Jack Bruno" Sara said "The only thing that will convince Eddie Cortez to reopen for business will be a significant sum of money"

Eddie stared at Sara for a second. "Do I know you from somewhere?" He asked, looking at her carefully.

Jack was quick "Nope you don't" He pulled the money from his pocket. "I'll pay you double your rate" This got the mechanic's attention.

"Triple"

"Done"

A few minutes later, Eddie was hard at work on the car.

Jack looked at the three of us. "Hungry?" He asked. We nodded our heads. We entered into a nearby restaurant.

It wasn't too fancy but it was simple, cozy. There was a live band playing, couples dancing to the music, and people having an overall genuine good time.

As we sat down, I decided to sit down next to Seth on purpose. I caught a small smile on Sara's face as I decided to do so.

We were all on edge, looking around to make sure everything was safe.

"I hope you do not act upon your thought of making a fast break out the back door and escaping Stoney Creek never to look back on us again" Sara whispered.

My eyes widened, starring at her for a moment. Jack did as well.

"How did you know that?" Jack asked.

Seth spoke. "My sister also has the gift of telepathy. She can read the minds of those nearest to her."

So remind me not to be near her when I think about her brother. Crud! She laughed a bit but then her focus when back to Jack.

"Tell your sister that here on earth, reading minds: very rude. Don't do that"

Our waitress came by carrying glasses of water. She handed them out to us. Her name tag read Tina.

She placed a menu down on the table. "Welcome to Ray's. My name is Tina and I'm going to be your server" She said. She moved for a second, looking us over.

"Well, look at the three of you" She said.

Jack stuttered "What do you mean, look at them. They look like regular innocent all-American kids"

Tina laughed. "I mean they look like they just rolled around a pig pen before dinner that's all" The sheriff of Stoney creek came in, greeted Tina, and went to his regular table in the restaurant.

Tina showed us to the restrooms for us to wash up.

As I was washing my hands, I realized I needed to come up with a plan that would allow me…. Baby Llamas in the meadow.

I was drying my hands, still thinking of baby llamas in the meadow.

Oh no, one of the llamas is heading to town! I have to get out of this town! I'm heading towards a payphone to call my roommate.

I reached the payphone outside. I hurried and put the money into the phone, dialing up the number to my apartment. It rang for a few minutes before I heard a voice.

"Astrid, is that you? No one has heard from you all day" it wasn't Bailey's voice.

"Trainor, Why are you in my apartment?" I asked.

"Bailey, Cameron and I were coming over earlier. Your apartment is a mess, like someone ransacked the place." Trainor said. My ex continued on talking about nonsense but all I could think about was someone, the government or a siphon had been inside my safe place looking for what or who?

I glanced back at the doorway entry to see Seth waiting for me.

"Where's Bailey, can I talk to her?" I asked Trainor.

"She's out with Cameron" Trainor answered.

Of course, she is.

"Look, Astrid, is everything alright? Tell me where you are and I'll…"

"I'm" I interrupted him not sure how to finish my sentence "with friends"

I hung up the phone and turned to face Seth.

"You do not appear fine this time, Astrid" He stated.

"This time, I'm not" I mumbled as he walked me back inside. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder. We joined Sara and Jack back at the table.


End file.
